Edwin Hubble: American Astronomer (Book Report Biographies) [Library Binding]

Mary Virginia Fox (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1997 | Age Level: 9 and up | Series: Book Report Biographies

Traces the life and work of the man whose study of galaxies led to a new understanding of the universe.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Gr 5-6--Despite the unpromising series title, this biography of the astronomer for whom the Space Telescope is named goes beyond a dry recitation of achievements to look at the man behind a public image he worked hard to create. Hubble "discovered" the stars at age eight, spending the entire night of his birthday looking through his grandfather's backyard telescope; he entered the University of Chicago at 16, and is chiefly remembered for proving that other galaxies exist and for measuring their distance and speed. Stephen Hawking (whose named is misspelled) is quoted as writing, "He changed the concept of the universe more profoundly than anyone else." Hubble "collected" famous people, from Einstein to Disney, affected a pipe and a British accent (he grew up in the Midwest), "was never accused of modesty," and told embroidered tales of his military service and other incidents. Some mystery still clings to parts of his life--and to his death, too. Fox leavens the facts with brief analytical comments, explains fairly clearly how Hubble used the celestial objects known as Cepheid variables and the Doppler shift to make his measurements, and acknowledges the important contributions to Hubble's work made by astronomer Henrietta Swan Leavitt and ex-janitor Milton Humason, his photographer. Supported by plenty of adequately reproduced black-and-white photos, portraits and pictures of star fields, plus back matter that includes Internet resources, this title not only addresses an assignment need, but perceptively views a brilliant, complex scientist/celebrity as well.

John Peters, New York Public Library

Copyright 1997 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Library Binding: 112 pages
• Publisher: Franklin Watts (September 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 053111371X
• ISBN-13: 978-0531113714
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,387,986 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Compact Biography for Young Readers, July 20, 2002

By 

Thomas W. Wilson (Huntington, WV USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Edwin Hubble: American Astronomer (Book Report Biographies) (Library Binding)

Having been a fan of Edwin Hubble since I first learned of him in high school in the early Fifties and read his classic work, The Realm of the Nebulae, while in college, I have collected everything about him I could find. He died suddenly during my senior year in high school and I was shocked and saddened to learn of it in the January, 1954 issue of Sky & Telescope magazine. I had long hoped a biography would be forthcoming but , except for a few brief ones in a few journals, no full length treatment was produced. I talked to Dr. Charles A. Whitney once about one he was to write which he told me was on hold but it never was completed. The first book with much biographical material was in a novel entitled Hubble Time published in 1987 which was about a fictional granddaughter. There is much biographical material in it about Hubble, however. One of its highlights is the publication of an essay about Hubble by Aldous Huxley which, according to the novel, had never been published. I well recall having read this very essay in the early Fifties! I had tried to find it several times since but could find no reference to it and it has been a great mystery where I read it. So, great was my surprise to find it in Hubble Time.

Finally, in 1989, a biography was published in Russia by two Russian scientists followed by Gale Christiansons excellent biography in 1995, both books long overdue. I also have copies of journals containing many of Hubble's scientific papers, all his books and a copy of his doctoral thesis. Now several volumes for young people have been written of which Mary Virginia Fox' is one. It is an excellent overview of his life and work for young people which can easily be read in one sitting and contains some photographs which I had not previously seen. It is good that such an important American astronomer, whose discoveries have been called "the most significant contributions to cosmology since Copernicus" and of whom Stephen Hawking has said "changed the concept of the universe more profoundly than anyone else", should be made known to a young generation. And Hubble's legacy continues in the profound new findings being produced with the great space telescope that appropriatly bears his name.

I would have loved to have had this excellent little book during my own early years.